Advent Three - The Voice of Joy (Luke 1:1-8)

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Each year through the season of Advent, we take time to remember the people to whom these events actually happened: Mary and Joseph, the angels, the shepherds, the magi, and Herod. This year, alongside the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy and love, we're also looking at the people who recorded the events for us. People who wrote them down and passed them on in the books of the Bible that we call the Gospels – a word that translates ‘good news.’ The four Gospels are named after the people who we understand wrote them: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  

We don't have direct claims of authorship for most of the Gospels. Matthew didn't write, “this is Matthew's account of the gospel.” Mark didn't include a copyright claim. Our understanding of who wrote what comes us from very, very early in church history.  

For example, Matthew’s authorship was attributed in around the year 140 AD by Bishop Papius, who recorded that the early church considered this book to have been written by Matthew, an eyewitness. He was one of the 12 original apostles called by Jesus to follow Him in His ministry on earth. Before he followed Jesus, Matthew was a tax collector. A lot of people looked sideways at why Jesus chose Matthew to be one of Hhs apprentices. People hated tax collectors. We complain about paying taxes, but this was different. The tax collectors in that day were Jewish people who collaborated with the invading occupying Roman force to collect money from the people of Israel. The tax collectors worked the system to their own profit. They were profiteering and collaborating. Tax collectors were villains. 

Matthew was a Jewish man. He rooted his Gospel's perspective in the history of Israel's long wait for Messiah. Matthew starts his Gospel with a genealogy—a family tree—that connects us to God's covenant with His people, Israel, and reminds us of how God kept His promises through those generations. In that way Matthew reminds us of hope.  

We get our understanding of who wrote the Gospel of Mark from, again, Bishop Papias.  

Mark was not one of Jesus’ original 12. He was a young man whose mother owned a house in which the early church gathered during Jesus’ ministry, and after His death and resurrection. There are hints and reasons to think that Mark’s mother's house was the location of the Last Supper, and of that amazing day at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and filled all of the believers. We also think that Mark was present at Jesus’ arrest. Mark was an eyewitness of some things, but he was also very close in friendship and in mentorship with the apostle Peter from whom he would have learned a lot about Jesus.  

When Mark wrote his Gospel, he was writing to a Roman audience, focussing on how Jesus lived His life. Not so much on the things that He said, more on the things He did. Last week we looked at how Jesus calls us to be makers of peace in our troubled world, and how the Gospel of Mark can remind us of peace.  

This week, we're looking at the Gospel of Luke, who again brings his own perspective to Jesus’ life and ministry, but from a greater distance. Luke was not an eyewitness. Luke was not there when any of those things happened, but he did a deep dive and hard work: research into the things that he had been told. That's where his Gospel arises from.  

Luke, in his writing about Jesus’ birth, can remind us of joy.  

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So, 3 quick questions... Who was Luke? Why did he write his Gospel? What does it mean for us today? 

Question One: who was Luke? Luke is named as the Gospel writer by two respected early Church Fathers, Irenaeus and Tertullian. Just as Matthew was a Jewish man writing to a Jewish audience, and Mark was a Jewish man writing to a Roman audience, Luke was a Greek man writing to a non-Jewish (gentile) audience, specifically someone named Theophilus, about whom we know absolutely nothing other than his name which means ‘friend of God,’ which might have been a nickname. So we don't even know that for sure.  

Luke was a friend of the apostle Paul. They seem to have met on one of Paul's long missionary trips throughout the world, with Luke joining Paul’s party. Traveling, providing medical care, listening, learning, writing. He was with Paul in Rome at the end.  

Luke is, I would suggest, the Gospel writer with whom we have the most in common, because we learn about Jesus the same way Luke did: from first-generation eyewitnesses, who knew Jesus, and passed on their experiences, what they’d seen and heard. Mark, Matthew, and John each had some first-hand experience. They had the opportunity to spend time with Jesus Himself—Luke joined the family later.  

Luke was, as we understand, a physician. Physicians had begun to earn more respect in the Roman world. Medicine had begun to break away from superstition, focussing more on the study and identification of diseases. Physicians treated wounds, recommended diet and exercise. They used natural-source medicines and drugs, and did surgery when necessary. Luke was a physician. This was his training, his world. Luke was an educated, reliable, intelligent person who knew how to examine, diagnose, and treat. He knew how to gather information, interpret, and respond. So when he introduces his account of Jesus’ birth, life, and ministry in the world by saying,  

Many have undertaken to compose an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us. Therefore, having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account... (Luke 1:1-3)

Luke is a rational, intelligent person, saying, “Hey, this is what I have been told. This is what was handed to me. I have talked to Peter and Paul. I have read what Mark wrote. I have asked questions everywhere I go. I have done my homework. I have compared stories. And I am convinced. And now, Theophilus, I am telling you why.” That's who Luke was.  

Question Two: why did he write his Gospel? He wrote it so that Theophilus specifically and others later “might know (might come to know... might discern... might detect...) the certainty (the truth... the trustworthiness...) of what you have been told.” It's possible that Theophilus had heard about Jesus, but wasn't quite convinced. So Luke sat down, worked it through and provided him with eyewitness reports vetted and double-checked to help Theophilus move past his questions and into faith.  

Luke starts with a story. Or rather, with three stories told to him by people who were told the stories by the people to whom they happened.  

First—the story of an old man and an old woman: Elizabeth and Zechariah. They had lived for decades the long, slow heartbreak of infertility in a culture that measured women's worth, that measured men's piety, by the size of their family. Even though they were respected community and religious leaders and they had done nothing wrong, they were still dogged by the question, “Why has God not blessed you with children? Why are you not deserving of that blessing?” But Elizabeth and Zechariah had lived a life of love. They had loved their God. They had loved each other and been loved in return. That love carried them through their day-to-day life of pain, of questions, of being judged by the people in their community. Until...  

Second—the story of a young woman: Mary. She hadn't lived long enough yet to experience the kind of persistent disappointment, or to choose the kind of faithful service that we see in Elizabeth and Zechariah's lives. It's unlikely that she was much older than 15 or 16. Mary was raised in a respectable family that treated her well, found her a good husband, educated her in the law and promises of Yahweh God. For Mary, life was still new. Still simple. She was still learning who she was and looking forward to what came next. Until... 

Third—the story of a bunch of outcasts—people who just didn't belong in polite society. Shepherds were not respected. Shepherds were not innocent or trusted. They were not welcome in worship. Shepherds knew how to take care of themselves. They knew how to take care of each other. They were working men. They were hard-living and probably when they had the chance hard-drinking. Shepherds were the kind of people that kids learn swear words from. They didn't really care what people thought of them because you can't carry that burden for long and eventually you have to just say, “Whatever.” The shepherds were just doing their job. Until... 

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These are Luke’s eyewitnesses to Jesus’ birth. These are the sources, the people to whose stories he turned for his own certainty of the single greatest truth in history: that God became man. Luke's eyewitnesses were the weary, the innocent, and the cynical, just living their ordinary lives day by day until... 

Until they heard the voice of joy.  

They heard the voice of joy, and each of them heard that voice say, “Don't be afraid.” Probably each of them would have heard in the angel's words an echo of the prophet Isaiah: 

Do not fear, for I am with you. Don't be afraid. I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will surely help you. I will uphold you with my right hand of righteousness.  (Isaiah 41:10)

“Zechariah, don't be afraid. God is with you and your waiting has not been pointless. You will have a son and this generation—right now—will see your son do the hard work of preparing the way and preparing people's hearts for Messiah.” 

“Mary, don't be afraid. God is with you. You may not be scared right now, but it's going to get tough. It's going to be hard. But you will not be alone. God is with you, and God is sending the saviour of the world through you.” 

“Shepherds, don't be afraid. You are not alone. God is with you. You are on the outside looking in, but I have fantastic news for everybody, including you guys. Starting with you guys. Christ the Lord is here on the planet and you can meet Him. Here's a map.” 

What happens next? After Zechariah and Mary and the shepherds have heard the voice of joy... they become the voice of joy.  

The message begins in heaven when the angels are given the message—the saviour is born.  

• The angels come to earth and sing to humanity, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace!” 
• When Zechariah hears that song, he sings to his family and neighbours, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people, He has raised up salvation for us as He spoke through His holy prophets.” 
• When Mary hears the voice of joy, she becomes the voice of joy, singing to Elizabeth, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour. He has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful as He promised our fathers.” 
• When the shepherds hear the voice of joy, they become the voice of joy. They tell Mary and Joseph what the angels had said and then go back to their work, “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” And you can bet they did not keep that message to themselves.  

The voice of joy echoes from the throne of heaven, to its messengers, to particular people, and out into the world.  

Question Three: what does that mean for us today?  

Years ago when my husband and I were living in Toronto, we went to an evening church service. We had heard that the pastor was a good preacher. But when we arrived, it turned out that he wasn't preaching. Instead it was going to be a service of testimony from members of the youth group.  

We thought, “Aw, man, we drove all this way and he's not even preaching. Oh well, we're here now, we might as well stay.” But we were not excited about hearing youth group testimonies. 

The first young woman stepped up to the podium and said, “Hi, my name is Allie.” She told us a little bit about herself and how she had been introduced to Jesus by her schoolfriend Bea.  

The next person stepped up to the podium and said, “Hi, I'm Bea.” And Bea told us how she had been introduced to Jesus by her schoolfriend Candace.  

The next person stepped up to the podium and said, “Hi, I'm Candace.” And Candace told us how she had been introduced to Jesus by her schoolfriend Debbie.  

And the next person stepped up to the podium. She said, “Hi, I'm Debbie.” And Debbie told us how she had been introduced to Jesus growing up in a family of faith and hearing the stories about Jesus and learning what He had to say to us. She told us how she could not keep that message to herself—that she had gone to school and shared it with Candace, who had shared it with Bea, who had shared it with Allie.  

That evening, listening to those stories was an amazing experience: seeing in action what is sometimes called ‘the chain of grace.’ Someone tells someone who tells someone who tells someone who tells someone, and that chain of grace carries the voice of joy from one person to the next, to the next, to the next. In that chain people—like Theophilus—have the opportunity to come to fully know the truth of what they've been told: to hear the voice of joy echoing in the world.  

On this third Sunday of Advent. we think about joy. We hear again the good news of Jesus Christ entering the world.  

We become the voice of joy. 

Just as the angels told Mary, and Mary told the apostles, and the apostles shared it with Paul, and Paul shared it with Luke, and Luke shared it with Theophilus... Down through history that voice speaks the good news of Jesus. Today we are that voice. 

If we call ourselves by the name of Christ, we are the voice of joy. Sharing the good news with the people around us, telling them that God so loved us, that He sent His son to save us.  

Just as we are called to be peacemakers in the world... we are called to be the voice of joy, sharing the message, the good news with people who desperately need to hear it.  

To hear the full message: